Vet assistants seek promotions, upper pay scales

BS Malik

Sonepat, September 12

Resentment prevailed among Veterinary Livestock Development Assistants (VLDAs) of the Animal Husbandry Department against the indifferent attitude of the state government towards their demand for promotion in upper pay scales.

Bijender Singh Banewal, deputy general secretary of the Diploma Veterinary Association of Haryana, said that there were 2,801 veterinary dispensaries and 988 hospitals in the state. “The dispensaries are manned by the VLDAs and hospitals by veterinary surgeons assisted by the VLDAs to treat a population of around 90 lakh,” he said, adding that against 3,034 sanctioned posts of the VLDAs, nearly 500 were lying vacant. Moreover, treatment and vaccination of around 60 per cent of the livestock were undertaken by the VLDAs, he added.

“The VLDAs are employed in the assistant grade pay band of Rs 9,300 to Rs 34,800 with grade pay of Rs 3,600 as Class-III employees and except the benefits of three grade pays, they retire as Class-II employees in the same pay scale after serving for more than 35 years,” he said.

The Animal Husbandry Department had created 115 posts of the Block Level Extension Officers (BLEO) which were to be filled by promoting the VLDAs, but except benefit of the grade pay, the post was of the same pay scale as well as in the Class-III category.

Banewal said: “When a clerk or Class-IV employee can be promoted up to the post of superintendent in other department, then why not the VLDAs?”

He said the association in a state-level programme in Rohtak on July 3 demanded the gazetted officer status in a higher pay band for BLEOs and grade pay and assure carrier progression equal to the assistant in the Central government services for the VLDAs were raised before Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Minister Om Prakash Dhankhar who assured for considering their demands sympathetically.